A few wines were consumed in May, and we’ll review two of them here. One is a sort of go to Rioja that sort of disappointed. The other is a low cost everyday value wine. The Rioja was pretty inexpensive as well, but it is not very good and therefore not a good value. Here they are:
Wine: LAN Rioja 2008 Winery Location: Spain
Tasted By: Neil & Cheri Date: May 2013
Tasting Notes: This is deep red out of the bottle with an expressive nose of reddish fruit. The palate has lots of fruit initially as well, but the depth isn’t there. It thins out quickly on the mid-palate and doesn’t finish strong. No complexity. So this is a quaffable red which could pass as a Zin blend. That means we don’t like it very much. There are a lot of better options out there.
Price Point – About $11, pretty inexpensive for a Rioja Crianza. This just doesn’t have a lot going on, and we’ve had LAN crianzas from other vintages that do.
Would We Buy It? – No. We were not impressed. If you want a good entry level Rioja try the Montabuena that’s on the value list.
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Wine: 2010 Smoking Loon Cabernet Sauvignon Winery Location: California
Tasted By: Neil & Cheri Date: May 2013
Tasting Notes: Dark purple/red in the glass, this has some nice dark fruit aromas and presents as medium to full bodied. It has a nice mouth feel to it, and there are good fruit flavors here as well as some complexity. Maybe a little smoke on the initial taste as well. You can add pretty good length to the list. All in all this is a nice bottle for the money and a good everyday wine. This is a winner.
Price Point – About $9, probably a little less at some places.
Would We Buy It? – Yes. This is pretty good. If it was $6-$7 it would be on the Value List. At $9 it is a decent value, just not exceptional. If you find it on sale for less then I would definitely buy a few.
So two more wines down, about 8 million to go. One wonders what will give in first; the money, the time or the liver.
A votre sante!
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